Forty Thousand

When I head over to my daughter, Hannah Westfield's place for dinner during Christmas Eve, I specifically wear a wool coat for the occasion. Unexpectedly, when Hannah sees me, she pushes me out of the front door instantly. "Mom, why must you buy the same coat as my mother-in-law did? Don't you know that she hates it when others imitate her? Hurry up and take off the coat before she sees you!" Meanwhile, my son-in-law, Thomas Clifford, digs out an old coat and puts it on me. "Mom, there are many relatives visiting our house today. Please spare my mom her pride and don't steal her thunder, okay?" Seeing how sincere Thomas looks, I decide to yield. But as soon as I take my seat, Giselle Johnson chortles in amusement as she stares at the old coat I'm wearing. "Oh Fiona, if you like my clothes, you could've just said so, and I'd give it to you. It's bad if you just steal my old coat from me and wear it, you know? Besides, don't you know that those who imitate always do a bad job at it?" Furious, I'm about to up and leave when Giselle grabs the coat and blocks my way. "I placed two money envelopes in the coat pockets a few days ago. There are 20 thousand dollars in there. Why are they gone after you've worn it? "I don't mind you wearing my coat behind my back, but you must return the money to me right now!"

My husband, Joseph Coleman, falls from the third floor, shatters both legs, and even injures what men fear losing most. I don't rush him to the nearest hospital. Instead, I drive him to a hospital two thousand miles away. In my previous life, Joseph jumped on purpose so the hospital intern he dotes on, Kimberly Parker, could secure a permanent spot by operating on him. He refused the capable surgeons nearby and insisted I take him to the hospital where Kimberly works, just so she can treat him. I turned him down because Kimberly is an untrained intern who got in through connections and has no surgical experience. Joseph had slapped me hard across the face. "I just want to use my injury to help Kim go permanent. Why are you being so petty?" He was dead set on Kimberly treating him. I worried the delay would ruin his legs, so I asked his mother, Diane Lowe, to talk sense into him. But what I never expected was Kimberly jumping from the hospital building when she failed her probation. Meanwhile, Joseph is treated in time, and both legs are spared. On the day he's discharged, I come smiling to take him home, but he runs me down with his car and kills me. As I collapse on the floor, choking on blood, I ask him why. He looks at me like I'm something stuck to his shoe. "If you hadn't stopped me from helping Kimberly go permanent, she never would've died!" When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the day Joseph falls and breaks his legs.

Ria's life was turned upside down when her billionaire husband threw the divorce papers at her face! He wanted to divorce her and marry his lover who was a thousand times better than her. "It's time for us to go our separate ways, Ria. These five years have been nothing but torture to me. I don't love you," Wyatt Earlson declared. His tone was emotionless and indifferent. It seems like all the years together were nothing but a joke in his eyes. Eventually, he would choose that woman over her. Heartbroken and depressed, she took off on a dark rainy night. She had devoted herself to him and his family yet they treated her like trash. She was continuously abused and neglected yet she stayed by his side because she thought he loved her. Suddenly, a man in an exquisite black suit drove a limousine up to her and said, "Miss Flinch, I'm assigned to pick you up and return to your family. Your brothers and grandfather are awaiting your return," Few months later, she came back with a new identity and title that SHOCKED the world. When she arrived at the ball a few weeks later, they asked, "Isn't she that broke country girl who was divorced by her husband?" "How dare a street rat like her show up in this place?!" The moment Euphoria (Ria) Riley Flinch was born, the people who looked down on her, scorned and treated her like trash started to drop on their knees and beg for her mercy. "Please forgive me. I was wrong," they cried. Even her ex husband was now begging her for forgiveness. However, she only raised her chin and stepped on their fingers.

At the age of 25, Manik lost his parents in a tragic accident and forced to move with his step uncle’s family who treated him like their son. He was okay with it, after all he was getting a family after his parents. But problems arise when his step sister started to grow feelings for him and didn’t forget to prove and confess it to him in every possible occasion. He wanted to stop her but he himself had fallen for her harder before her. At the mere age of 16, Nandini met her step brother Manik who moved with them after his parents’ death. At the beginning, she was bothered about a unknow guy moving in with them but when she met him, her thoughts changed and something attracted her towards him more even when he ignored as if she didn’t exist. Still, it couldn’t stop her from falling for her brother. He is unbelievably hot, but there are so many things made him fall for him. Maybe the depth in his eyes or the way he looked at her often. When Nandini confessed her feelings to Manik, he started treating her worst with the fear and respect he had for her parents. Nandini will forget him and move on, if he didn’t reciprocate, that’s what he thought but his plan backfired when Nandini planned to make him jealous and her plan worked. “I should have realized earlier, the way his chocolate brown eyes stared at me, the way he hugged me a little longer than usual though pretended to be unintentionally, the way his eyes spoke thousand words louder than his lips that my step brother too was in love with me.” “I should not let her feelings grow. It's forbidden. Illicit!”

TRIGGER WARNING!!! This book is a very dark romance. Alpha Keegan is everything 18+, and he enjoys being bad without craving repentance. If you're not into dark romance, in the name of everything holy, please do not read this!!! **** "My darkness is coming. Not even the brightest torchlights can shield you from it," he said with the most cruel smile she had ever seen, "You are like heaven, yet I crave to drag you into the depths of Hades with me... Why, little one?" His warm breath caressed her neck, a whimper escaping her lips. ... Alpha Keegan, a ruthless man who carries the anger of a thousand men, was feared and respected by even Alphas older than him. He prided himself in being evil and held no desire for redemption. He took extreme pleasure in executing witches as they were a stain to the world. Sheera, an extremely beautiful lady, wanted nothing but a happy life. But her beauty became her curse when she was brought to serve a man whose icy heart craved only the taste of her innocence. Alpha Keagan. She wished to get far away from him because she knew for sure he'd have her killed the moment he discovered her biggest secret. But he wouldn't let her go. Not when he wasn't done tainting her very soul. Keegan's dark heart had no place for love. Pleasured by six mistresses, he never knew that one of them was THE CURSE while another was THE BLOOD. What happens when he finds himself obsessed with Sheera beyond comprehension? And what happens when he finds out Sheera's secret, which unleashes his worst nightmare? Was Sheera the CURSE or the BLOOD? This would be the most twisted, suspenseful book you'd ever come across. Brace yourselves!

I am confused because I thought that I was going to die. I was sentenced to death, not because I wanted to, but I took the blame instead of my best friend. I didn't know what the future had for me in store. I just knew that my life wasn't going to be normal at all. I met someone that I thought was going to be a good friend; I am not someone that easily gave away her trust, yet he earned it the time that we spent together. His name was Robert, and I'll never forget it because he almost killed me. I was unconscious two times now and the second time wasn't like I expected, I thought that I was going to see my mother, but I saw someone else, his name was Rengoku, and I don't think that I'll be able to forget it either. He was able to make me feel something that I never felt before. He said that I was his mate. After meeting Rengoku, we went on a trip seeking different goals; why the world was infected by a dangerous virus that made people attack each other? And what can be the possible cure for it? Rengoku wanted to add one more task to this journey: he wanted to clean his kingdom from the rotten minds that kept lurking around it. I lived two lives, and I decided that in this life, I wasn't going to let them do what they want to me.They say that people won't ever change, that time only shows their true colours, it was true. If they harmed me on, I'd revenge a thousand folds. But the most important thing, I wasn't going to let my love disappear once again in front of me.

Faye Millers was the plump orphan no one chose. With curvy hips, soft belly, and strawberry-blonde hair that was always tied in a messy ponytail. Too much for a pack that prized sharp bones and perfect lines. Yet Thorn Millers, the future Alpha and the adoptive brother who she was raised alongside, couldn’t keep his hands off her. He bullied her in daylight, then pulled her into his bed at night—secret, breathless nights where he worshipped the body he mocked in public. Faye’s wolf, Ulfa, swore he was their mate and she believed it. Until the coronation day. Pregnant with his child—the heir the elders demanded—Faye stood silent in the great hall, with her hand cradling her growing belly, as Thorn placed the Luna crown on her anorexic best friend Rieka’s head. “Some women,” Thorn announced, with his voice ringing with disgust yet never meeting Faye’s tear-filled eyes, “are simply not built to stand beside an Alpha.” The pack cheered. Rieka smiled triumphantly. While Faye’s heart broke into a thousand pieces. He rejected her curves, denied their baby and chose a fake fated bond, over the curvy girl carrying his bloodline. Her adoptive parents, desperate to hide their son’s shame, offered her money and care until delivery… then exile forever. But Faye didn’t crumble. As a social outcast swollen with child, she caught the eye of Jacob Black—the powerful Beta heir who saw beauty in every curve Thorn despised. Slowly, fiercely, he claimed her heart while royal blood stirred in her veins. They expected her to stay broken. To accept disgrace and fade away. With royal blood hidden in her veins and a true mate who craves every curve Thorn despised, Faye will reclaim everything he stole.

After graduation, I spend a year interning with my mentor, a healer, out in the neutral lands—no packs, no laws, and no one to protect me. My brother, the Lycan Chairman of all werewolves, nearly loses his mind over it. He's terrified I'll fall for some Rogue and impulsively form a reckless mate bond. As such, he handpicks an arranged mate for me—Falcon Sterling, the Alpha of the strongest pack in Northmere. He's handsome and dangerous, a legendary figure. My brother orders me to come home for the mating ceremony, so I have no choice but to go pick out a Luna crown. At the jewelry shop, my eyes snap straight to a crown made of pure silver and covered in diamonds. Just as I reach out to take it, a sharp female voice cuts in. "I like the one she's holding. I'll take it. Hand it over." Before I can react, the clerk snatches the crown right out of my hands, nearly scraping my skin. I straighten up, forcing myself to stay calm. "Ever heard of 'first come, first served?' I saw it first. Is this how you do things here?" The she-wolf slowly turns toward me, casting me a long, mocking look. "This crown costs 300 thousand dollars. You sure you can afford it, peasant? I grew up with the Alpha of the Silvermoon pack, Falcon Sterling. Around here, I make the rules." I stare at her, almost laughing. Isn't that funny? Falcon just happens to be my arranged mate. I pull out my phone and press the call button. "Hey, Falcon. Your adorable childhood sweetheart just stole the Luna crown I'm supposed to wear for the mating ceremony. What do you think I should do about that?"

"A man from my past shattered my heart into a thousand pieces. I decided from that day on I would never give my heart to a man to be broken again. I know it sounds foolish because I was so young. However, that heartache has affected how I am with men. I am terrified to give my heart away like that again only to have it shattered." Natalia still felt the hurt and betrayal like it was yesterday. "I promise to never break your heart. Give me a chance to prove that I won't hurt you. I've never felt like this for anyone before I met you. I know it's only been two days, but you're all I've thought about since seeing you that first time. Let me erase the pain that's in your heart." Hayden took both her hands in his. --------------------- Natalia Crawford is the top female CEO in the city. She has worked tooth and nail to climb to the top without compromising her morals. She's beautiful with long blonde hair and green eyes. Men want her for her beauty, brains, and money. When she met Hayden Sumner, he was determined to make her his. She agreed he was easy on the eyes, tall with thick black hair and blue eyes, but she had no desire to be in a relationship. After a chance encounter, she ended up opening her heart for a chance at love. People all around them want to see them fail in both love and business. Even as one of them is fighting for their life, it doesn't stop others from trying to bring them down. Will love conquer all, or will everyone who wants to hurt them be successful in tearing them apart?

I married Kael Throne—the infamous king of New York’s mafia—not for his power, not for his fortune, but because I loved him. He was unlike any man I’d ever known. A man who could have a thousand women at his feet, yet dismissed them all with a single glance. I believed his faithful love until the day I learned the existence of a college girl. He’d “respected” me enough to keep her hidden… until I forced the truth into the light. Kael didn’t rage. He didn’t deny it. He only looked at me with that calm, dangerous gaze and said, “Then we divorce.” I refused. He offered me his money, his casino, his everything. Still I said no. Because I loved him. That’s when his love turned black. He had me kidnapped. My mother, too. All to force my signature on those papers. “You found out,” he said, almost bored. “And there’s no more fun in hiding. Leave now, Vivienne. Give me—and Nyssa—our happy ending.” I watched as the man he’d sent slit my mother’s throat. My answer came too late. Kael Throne was a monster. I collapsed, my head cracking against the floor. And when I opened my eyes… I was back on the day I first learned Nyssa existed. This time, I didn’t confront him. I played the perfect wife, smiling sweetly while I waited for the perfect moment to vanish from his life forever. I just never imagined that when I finally disappeared… Kael would lose his mind.